NSW Police incorrectly allowed two German nationals to board a flight to Melbourne without undergoing hotel quarantine in Sydney, believing the returned international travellers had an exemption.
Key points:
- The two international arrivals were only discovered after they got to Melbourne Airport
- A rental car company employee found out they had not quarantined and told authorities
- NSW Police said they mistakenly believed the passengers had a valid exemption
Police practices and systems at Sydney International Airport are being reviewed and strengthened as a result of the breach, the NSW Police Force said in a statement.
The two passengers who are now in hotel quarantine in Victoria have so far tested negative for COVID-19, and will be tested again tomorrow.
Questions have been raised about how the two travellers were able to bypass New South Wales' hotel quarantine measures, and how they managed to board a Melbourne-bound domestic flight.
NSW Police said the pair — identified as a 53-year-old woman and a 15-year-old boy — were directed to board a bus to hotel quarantine after being screened by NSW Health.
However, they advised officers they were booked on a flight to Melbourne and police subsequently allowed them to travel "under standard protocols for exempt travellers".
"On arrival in Melbourne, Victoria Health advised NSW Health that the pair were not in possession of an approved exemption and had been escorted to hotel quarantine, where they remain," NSW Police said in its statement.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the situation was only discovered after the two passengers, who travelled to Australia from Germany via Japan, spoke to an employee of a rental car company working at Melbourne Airport.
Mr Andrews thanked the employee, who he said had done "an amazing job".
"We're very grateful to them, and hopefully they're suitably honoured and rewarded by their employer — and if we have to do something we will, they've done a really, really good job," Mr Andrews said.
However he said it was important authorities in New South Wales investigated how the travellers managed to slip through the quarantine system.
"There was some good fortune there, and sometimes you need a little bit of that. We're very keen though to have a system that's not reliant on that," Mr Andrews said.
New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard has promised a thorough investigation into the incident.
The Australian Border Force said in a statement to the ABC that it had cleared the two passengers upon their arrival in Sydney.
However it said responsibility for returned travellers "passes to state and territory authorities" when it comes to placing them in hotel quarantine, or allowing them to board domestic flights.
The more than 175 close contacts of the two travellers, a list that includes everyone aboard the Melbourne-bound Virgin Airways flight they were on as well as a handful of Melbourne Airport employees, have been advised to quarantine.
They will be able to end their isolation if the two passengers return negative tests tomorrow.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTEyLTA2L25zdy1wb2xpY2UtYWRtaXQtd3JvbmdseS1sZXR0aW5nLWdlcm1hbi1wYWlyLWZseS10by1tZWxib3VybmUvMTI5NTQ5ODTSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTI5NTQ5ODQ?oc=5
2020-12-06 02:10:00Z
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